Poe and Hitchcock
Edgar Allen Poe and Alfred Hitchcock have insane characters in their stories. Some examples are Edgar Allen Poe's William Wilson in "William Wilson," and the narrator of the "Tell-Tale Heart"; and Alfred Hitchcock's Bruno in Strangers on a Train. These characters have similar foundations for their unstable sanity; however, each character had his own peculiar motives which led to this unsound state-of-mind. William Wilson appears what society deems "normal" in the beginning of the short story. He admits his faults in his "imaginative and easily excitable temperament" (pg. 66). He even begins his story by revealing remorse and shame for his past actions: "The fair page now lying before me need not be sullied with my real appellation," (pg. 66). These traits are those which characterize a "sane" mentality. The story goes on to describe the normal life of any boy away at school. Wilson gains the respect and admiration of others with his "ardor, enthusiasm and imperiousness" that are innate to popular and socially competent persons (pg. 70). However, when Wilson notices that there is one youth whom does not claim the admiration for Wilson as the others, Wilson becomes threatened. This Other person continually interferes with W
Wilson's insanity led him to embody this kinder and more considerate side of himself into a human being that only he could see, hear and speak with; the sane person would recognize this as his own conscious or ethical guide. The narrator turns himself into the police because he thinks they can hear the old man's heart beating underneath the floorboards. The Other was in fact a part of Wilson's imagination. Bruno, in Strangers on a Train, is insane in the same likeness of the narrator of "Tell-Tale Heart. Soon, the narrator premeditated the old man's death, but for several nights he could not accomplish the plan. The narrator represses his guilt and remorse for his actions to the extent that they subconsciously drive him mad. Wilson was unable to deal with this spilt personality everyone possesses; and the Other voice telling him to do what he did not want to drove him mad. Bruno also functioned normally in society, but he could not manage his hatred for his father properly, and this led him to believe that murder was tolerable because he would not be caught. " Bruno is very proud of his plan to "swapping murders" with someone else in order to kill his father. The narrator of the "Tell-Tale Heart" is mad in a similar manner as William Wilson. 193)?" The narrator also takes pride in his composed and serene manner after the killing: "If you think me mad, you will no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body," (pg. His utter disregard for morality isolates him from society's definition of normal, and places him with the insane.
Common topics in this essay:
Wilson Wilson,
Evil Eye,
William Wilson,
Bruno Guy,
Heart Bruno,
Strangers Train,
Tell-Tale Heart,
Alfred Hitchcock,
william wilson,
tell-tale heart,
wilson narrator,
man's heart,
narrator tell-tale,
narrator tell-tale heart,
heart beating,
Bruno Strangers,
Edgar Allen,
bruno strangers train,
pg 193,
strangers train,
bruno's insanity,
mad narrator,
man's heart beating,
william wilson narrator,
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Acceptance Essays
